We're okay
by SecretLyfe
Summary: "When Bruce woke up that morning at 7am something was a bit off. Maybe it was the slight tickle at the back of his throat, maybe it was the stuffed up nose. Despite that, he ignored it and carried on with his daily routine, clambering out of bed towards the bathroom."


**Here we have a lovely little Highschool AU Bruce/Natasha sickfic. What could be better, am I right? Only rated Teen because of slight swearing but hardly.**

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 **Monday**

When Bruce woke up that morning at 7am something was a bit off. Maybe it was the slight tickle at the back of his throat, maybe it was the stuffed up nose. Despite that, he ignored it and carried on with his daily routine, clambering out of bed towards the bathroom.

 **School starts at 8:40.**

 **Double PE.**

As he ran his second lap of the field, Bruce's stomach began to churn. He slowed down, trying to regulate his breathing and fight the oncoming nausea. Nat lapped him for… What was this, the third time? Damn he was feeling crap today.

"How's it goin' Bruce?" She said, coming up beside him and slowing her pace so he could keep up.

"Oh yeah, just fine." He panted, swallowing back bile.

"Really?" she questioned, suddenly concerned by the colour completely draining from his face, "Cause you look kinda peaky. Maybe you should go take a break? You seem a bit off your game."

Bruce considered the thought for a moment then nodded, dropping to a slow walk as he made his way towards the concrete steps. Once he sat down his stomach finally settled down and he decided he would just take that lesson off. He could probably convince the coach to let him leave, tell him he was stressed or some shit like that. It would work. He sat there for a while before the teacher walked up to check on the teenager.

"I'm just a bit stressed, sir. I was hoping I could take the lesson off to calm down?" He enquired, cautiously; he couldn't let on that he was faking.

"Of course," the teacher said, softly, walking away to yell at someone… Again. "Mr. Stark, for the last damn time, you can't use propulsion systems to do track!"

 **Break.**

 **Maths.**

 **Psychology.**

 **Lunch.**

 **Chemistry.**

 **School ends at 3:00, home by 3:30.**

After Bruce got home he noticed something; he had seemingly developed a headache. _Great,_ he thought, _Just fantastic._ Of course, he hadn't noticed this at school since he was focused on the classes, but it was definitely there.

Just as he started to make dinner for his obnoxious brother, said brother barged into the room shouting.

"Sup Brucie, where's my dinner?" Tony had a habit of not realising how maddening he was, despite it being pointed out to him continuously.

"Tony, as I told you literally 10 minutes ago, I have not started but will do shortly." Bruce replied, rubbing his temples as he tried to suppress the oncoming migraine.

"Urgh, guess I'll wait then." Tony muttered, walking out and tripping over one of the many half completed machines lying around.

 **Tuesday**

Once more, Bruce woke up with a stuffed up nose, but also with brand new swollen tonsils. As with every issue he encountered that could not be solved logically, Bruce ignored it. _Time for school I guess._

 **School starts at 8:40am** , his brother arrives late as he walks with his friends, but Bruce comes alone.

 **Maths.**

 **English.**

 **Break.**

 **Biology.** As his headache worsens, Bruce tries to focus on the work. Osmosis. Easy. He could do this.

"Hey Bruce!" And there was Steve, right on cue. "Could you explain the work? I don't really get it and Tony always just tells me to bugger off."

"Er, yeah, sure Steve. Just gimme a sec." Bruce was fed up with having to do this every single lesson. "So, osmosis is just the process of water moving from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration across a semipermeable membrane."

"What does that mean?" Steve never did pick things up very well.

"Look, Steve, I really can't do this today." Bruce said with a sigh, frustration prevalent, "Please leave me alone, I'll help you tomorrow.

Steve's smile fell at this response but he just turned and walked back to his seat.

 _Why did I say that?_ Bruce thought as he returned to his work, _Gah, now I've just hurt his feelings. Nat's gonna kill me._

 **History.**

 **Lunch.**

 **French.**

 **School ends at 3:00.**

Bruce was losing his voice at that point; he just wanted to go home and sleep. As he trudged out of the school gates, Nat came rushing up behind him.

"Hey Bruce, what's up with you?" Natasha's voice was full of worry.

"Nat I'm fine," Bruce really didn't want to have this conversation, his girlfriend would only worry. "I'm just gonna head home, I have some reading to do."

"Kay Bruce. I know you're lying about this but I'm not gonna bother pushing you."

 _God, how does she figure this stuff out?_ Bruce thought as he turned away to walk home.

 **Arrive home at 4:00.**

Bruce's mind wandered on his way home so he ended up getting briefly lost. Not a good sign but Bruce ignored it.

"Bruce! Get your butt back here!" Nat yelled, running up behind Bruce just as he was about to open his door.

 _Welp,_ Bruce thought as he meandered back down the street, _I wasn't gonna avoid it that easily._

"Yes Nat?" Bruce slurred as he approached the girl, causing her face to contort in worry, "What is it that you want?"

"Steve told me about what happened in science." Nat said with a blank expression. "You know he's sensitive. He's worried about you too, ya know; you're normally happy to help him."

"Well… Yeah. I just needed to finish my work and didn't have the time to explain it…" Bruce replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, sure." Natasha rolled her eyes. "Look Bruce, I know there's something up with you and I get annoyed when I don't have control over stuff. So please, _please_ just tell me."

"Nat," the surroundings were starting to unfocus slightly and Bruce had to lean against a wall to avoid collapsing, "I'm okay. I'm just tired, now leave me alone."

As Natasha watched Bruce stumble back to his house, she shook her head. _This is not gonna go well…_

 **Friday**

Multiple days had passed, each very much like the other with few incidents. But that Friday morning was different. With the morning came a headache, frequent dizzy spells, and a practically non existent voice for Bruce.

 **8:00am, wake up late.**

Bruce panicked when he caught sight of the blinking digital clock and fell out of bed. As he went to stand up, he was hit by a wave of unsteadiness and had to sit back down on his bed, pinching the bridge of his nose. _Must carry on._

Bruce printed down the stairs to find his brother opening the door to leave, Nat standing just beside him. She must have come to walk with him…

"We were just about to leave, Bruce." Natasha said, "But good to know you're still alive and I won't have to walk with this madman alone." She jabbed her thumb in Tony's direction and he plastered his face with mock offence.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be right there." Bruce muttered, his voice hoarse.

"You sound like you're losing your voice…" Nat said warily. "Are you sure you wanna come in today? You don't sound, or look, great."

"Excuse me!" Bruce semi-shouted, causing him to break out in a brief coughing fit. "Look, I'm fine Nat."

"Okay then, we'll wait for you." Natasha shut the door and went to sit on the sofa.

Bruce stuffed books into his bag, grabbed a granola bar, and rushed to the front door.

"Let's go."

Tony and Nat went ahead, despite Nat's protests that she should look after Bruce. He couldn't walk very quickly and kept having to stop and lean against a tree or a fence.

 **Arrive at school only just on time at 8:41.**

 **Maths,** attempting to focus despite his throbbing headache.

 **English.**

 **Break.**

 **French.**

 **Walking to Computing.**

After French had finished, Bruce sluggishly shoved his books into his bag. _I can do this. Two more lessons._ Bruce thought as he stumbled out of the classroom and down the corridor. Nothing in his vision was lining up and he was really struggling to keep from falling over.

He leaned against the wall as he waited for the teacher to call in the call. He could do this. Everything around him was spinning. He was gonna faint, oh God.

"Hey Bruce!" Nat yelled from down the crowded corridor. Bruce was just staring at the floor, emotionless. "Bruce? Bruce are you okay?"

Nat started pushing through the throngs of people, a panicked expression plastered on her face. She reached Bruce just as he started to slip down the glossy wall.

"Bruce! Bruce can you hear me? Bruce I need you to say something." Tears started falling down her face, which she immediately brushed away as people crowded around them. Natasha looked up. "One of you idiots go get a teacher or something!" she yelled, threateningly. "Bruce I promise you're gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay…"

 **1:00.**

Bruce staggers through his front door with his arm draped over Nat's shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me you were ill." Nat muttered as she dropped Bruce on the sofa. "No, no it's my fault. I could tell something was wrong with you but I let you just carry on."

She began to make some tea.

"Nat, really, it's fine…" Bruce murmured sleepily.

"No!" Nat screamed, slamming a mug down onto the kitchen counter. No, it's not okay. I knew something was wrong but I didn't even try to help you. You could have been hurt Bruce…"

"Nat, come here." Bruce said, patting the place beside him on the soda. "I'm okay, we're okay."

Natasha reluctantly came over and wrapped her arms around Bruce, starting to sob in a rare outburst of emotion that wasn't anger. Bruce planted a kiss on her forehead and hugged her.

"It's all gonna be okay…"

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 **And that's that! I really do hope you enjoyed this, remember to leave a review as it seriously does help a lot. DFTBA!**

 **-Lyfe**


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